By Ian Holmes

Scorching-hot Buccaneers tame Cougars 3-2 in double OT

Jan 19, 2017 | 10:29 PM

NANAIMO— The Buccaneers downed the first place Victoria Cougars 3-2 in thrilling fashion in double-overtime at the Nanaimo Ice Centre on Thursday night.

Captain Chad Bell scored his second goal of the game, on a penalty shot, 40 seconds into the three-on-three overtime session, to secure the Bucs’ (24-13) fifth straight victory.

Nanaimo trailed 2-0 after two periods of play, but head coach Dan Lemmon says they continued mounting pressure, which eventually paid off.

“We played simple, we played the same way all through the game, we played Bucs’ hockey,” Lemmon told NanaimoNewsNOW after the game. “We got pucks in deep, we forechecked, our ‘D’ had good gap through the neutral zone, John Hawthorne made the saves we needed him to.”

Victoria (26-8-0-5) looked to be in good shape following a first period powerplay tally from Tyler Vernuden, followed by a Jordan Passmore goal, also with the man advantage, late in the second period.

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However, Nanaimo upped the pressure in the third period with an early powerplay goal from Chad Bell. Dawson Heathcote then outworked a Cougars’ defenceman and then took a feed from Bill Walters to square the game up midway through the third period. Heathcote, the reigning VIJHL player of the week, has an impressive four goals and six assists during a five-game point streak.

The Bucs outshot Victoria 35-25 during the fast-paced and physical encounter, which had the feel of a playoff game.

A dejected Cougars’ bench boss Suneil Karod said they simply didn’t match Nanaimo’s intensity in the third period.

“We sat back I think in the third,” said Karod. “The guys came out scared to lose, and anytime you come out scared to lose and not playing to win, you’re going to get scored on, plain and simple.”

Nanaimo outshot Victoria 12-6 in the third period and generated numerous quality chances on Cougars’ netminder Anthony Ciurro.

Karod was highly complimentary of the Buccaneers who have won an impressive 19 of their last 23 contests.

“They’ve got obviously a couple guys who have a lot of high-skill talent, but there’s 20 guys playing for one goal, their guys never veer from that, they never stray. They’re a tough team to play against.”

The Bucs wrapped up the season series with Victoria by winning three of four match-ups. Nanaimo won their first game of the season Thursday night after trailing heading into the third period (1-10).

“We’re gearing up toward the playoffs right now with our physical style and the way we like to play…intensity and getting ready to go are things we’ve been working on all year,” said Lemmon.

Bucs captain Chad Bell scored his team-leading 6th game-winning goal of the season to send a large crowd at the Nanaimo Ice Centre home happy.

“It was a great game, the Cougars always come out to play, it looks like we’ll probably play them in the playoffs if we get through Comox and Campbell River,” said Bell.

The Buccaneers are now just four wins away from a franchise-best 28 regular season victories. The city’s Junior B hockey team racked up 27 wins (27-17-4) during its inaugural season in 2012/13. The Bucs have 11 more regular season games remaining.

The Bucs take on the Peninsula Panthers (7-28-0-3) in a rare Saturday night home game (Jan. 21) at 8:00 p.m. At the Nanaimo Ice Centre.

– with files from Kyle Ireland –